What is L-Glutamine?

L-Glutamine is one of the most prominent members of the amino acid family. If you’re looking for muscle building, muscle tissue protection, and weight loss results, you want to make sure that you’re getting enough of this compound into your daily life.

Your muscles are responsible for making approximately 90 percent of the glutamine stores in your body.

It then travels all over your body to organs and cells that need it to function properly. For example, glutamine is needed to ensure other amino acids and glucose are synthesized properly.

While not considered an essential amino acid, glutamine can become conditionally essential (meaning supply must be supplemented as the body can no longer produce adequate amounts) in certain circumstances such as during injury or illness.

L-glutamine also plays a role in immune function, gut problems, wound healing, brain function, and the release of increased amounts of protein and growth hormone needed to aid in muscle building and protection.

If you’ve got puny ‘guns’ and you want to buff up, it’s time you learn exactly what glutamine can do for you.

Health Benefits of L-Glutamine

You’re looking at a natural compound that has the ability to aid in cancer treatments, meet nutritional requirements to live a healthier life, treat a variety of serious conditions, and to create the type of body that can offer a long, healthy life.

The benefits of glutamine range from weight loss results and muscle building to treating digestive disorders and side effects of various cancers.

There’s more to this little amino acid than what first meets the eye. Here we are going to look specifically at the benefits you can gain when it comes to achieving your body sculpting goals.

L-Glutamine Weight Loss Benefits

Using glutamine for weight loss results has proven to be a supportive and effective aid for those looking to shed some pounds.

Glutamine naturally triggers the release of increased amounts of human growth hormone which plays a huge role in metabolic processes.

This enables the metabolism to be more efficient at burning fats that would typically get stored away. So does l-glutamine help with weight loss? You bet it does!

Glutamine in the liver has a regulatory status. This means that its presence in the liver and metabolic process makes it an efficient soldier at ordering fat to be transported to be burned up for energy.

While exercise and diet is in effect, the body can evict large amounts of fat stores to be sent to the metabolic furnace to be used.

This gets rid of the flab, sheds the pounds, and creates the weight loss results you’ve been desperately needing.

L-Glutamine and Body Building

Athletes and buffs of the fitness world love this amino acid for its encouragement of muscle growth.

Not only does it have tremendous effects on growth hormone production, it’s also an efficient stimulant for the effective use of proteins.

This means that it helps to deliver proteins and growth hormone where and when it needs to be.

During weight lifting and other types of exercise, glutamine rushes to support the working muscles.

Because of exertion, it rushes to set up a construction site. There, it delegates proteins, hormones, and other natural compounds to build, build, build.

New muscle tissue is formed and fat gets kicked off the scene to be transported away to make room for your growing muscles.

There’s a lot of processes going on at this time that include:

Increased metabolism which increases energy levels

New muscle growth

Muscle protection

Due to muscle growth, fat stores are sent to be burned for fuel

The above creates less flab, weight loss, and a toned body

L Glutamine for Recovery

This deserves its own section because not only does glutamine help to build muscle, it’s also there to protect and repair muscle damage.

Often times it’s needed during periods of stress and this event can be something as simple as working out and exercising.

Glutamine opens the floodgates to allow reparation to muscle tissue. This allows you to endure longer workouts, work out harder, and get those big, buff guns to show off.

Because of a glutamine muscle recovery event going on in the body, those hard-earned guns are sheltered from muscle wasting.

Muscle wasting happens whenever your muscles can’t keep up with the glutamine demand. It then becomes necessary to supplement to ensure your glutamine stores are kept full and at the ready.

L-Glutamine for Sugar Cravings

It’s also been noted that glutamine can help you overcome sugar cravings and many hypothesize that this may be due to its ability to improve glucose metabolism and increase insulin sensitivity.

Others suggest that sugar cravings may occur when the body cells are crying out for an energy source and since glutamine is converted so rapidly into glucose, this craving for cellular energy is fulfilled by a glutamine fix.

Food Sources of Glutamine

This amino acid is available from both animal and plant products and glutamine rich foods are your typical high protein sources.

Animal sources include:

beef

chicken, eggs

fish

milk, yogurt, cheese: cottage, ricotta, parmesan, mozerrella, cheddar

You’ll want to get a lean cut as much as possible for glutamine fat loss benefits, since you can get more protein from a lean cut than from a fatty cut.

Vegetable sources include:

cabbage

beets

beans

spinach

parsley

kale

Brussels sprouts

carrots

There are a few other foods that contain glutamine including:

whole grains: wheat germ, oats, quinoa, wheat, brown rice, millet

nuts: peanuts, peanut butter, almonds, pistachios, walnuts

seeds: pumpkin, sunflower

Glutamine Supplements

L-Glutamine is a popular and well-known amino acid and it’s celebrated for its many health benefits. Because of this, you can find many different glutamine supplements on the shelves of your local sports store and online.

Glutamine supplements are available in 3 forms; powder, pills/capsules and liquid l-glutamine injections.

Oral supplements of glutamine such as the powdered and encapsulated versions are fairly readily available but injections are harder to find. If you are considering injecting this amino acid, you need to be sure of your supply.

Purchasing injectables from unregulated sources can often come at a hefty price to not only your wallet, but your health too.

Side Effects of L-Glutamine Supplements

This amino acid is considered extremely safe to take and there are few reported l-glutamine side effects.

If you choose an injectable supplement, there is potential for irritation at the injection site (as is the case with any injectable). However if correctly administered, this can be avoided.

People with certain medical conditions such as serious liver conditions, mania mental disorder, and a severe sensitivity to MSG, should avoid glutamine.

As with any new supplement, it’s always advisable to seek medical advice from your physician before use.

Vanessa completed a Bachelor of Naturopathy at Southern Cross University in Australia. She worked in private practice for a decade before realizing her passion for writing. Vanessa has spent the past 4 years ghost-writing for many online publications under various pen names including this one.

The information on this website has not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration or any other medical body. We do not aim to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You must consult your doctor before acting on any content on this website.